Birds can be choir masters, curiosity is holy, and there's more to life than clarity.
Birds can be choir masters, curiosity is holy, and there's more to life than clarity.
Emily Dickinson:
Spiritual-but-not-religious
"In Dickinson’s teen years, a wave of religious revivals moved through New England. One by one, her friends and family members made the public profession of belief in Christ that was necessary to become a full member of the church.
Although she agonized over her relationship to God, Dickinson ultimately did not join the church–not out of defiance but in order to remain true to herself: “I feel that the world holds a predominant place in my affections. I do not feel that I could give up all for Christ, were I called to die” (L13).
By the time the First Congregational Church moved to a site near the Homestead on Main Street in 1868, Emily Dickinson had stopped attending services altogether."
- Emily Dickinson Museum, click here.
Although she agonized over her relationship to God, Dickinson ultimately did not join the church–not out of defiance but in order to remain true to herself: “I feel that the world holds a predominant place in my affections. I do not feel that I could give up all for Christ, were I called to die” (L13).
By the time the First Congregational Church moved to a site near the Homestead on Main Street in 1868, Emily Dickinson had stopped attending services altogether."
- Emily Dickinson Museum, click here.
Whitehead and Emily Dickinson
a theology
_________ is spiritual but not religious. She believes in God, kind of, but doesn't go to church. She is an avid fan of Emily Dickinson and Alfred North Whitehead. She holds them together in her mind's eye, learning from each, and has developed what she calls a Whitehead-Dickinson theology. She shares some of its key ideas with me:
Faith is a fine invention, but in an emergency it helps to have a microscope.
Don't give yourself away to religion, or to Christ, if it takes you away from the world.
You don't have to go to church to worship; you can go into your backyard and let the birds be your choir. Let nature be your sanctuary.
Live with a sense of wonder; be curious about everything: death, flies, shadows, relationships, tables and chairs, salvation, passion, botany, violence, surprise, love.
Know that whole of life is a series of nows and that "forever" is composed of nows.
Know that the infinite is in the finite, the universe in each grain of sand (Blake). Pay attention to the grains.
Don't think everything needs to be clear. Some of the most important things in life are vague: love, relationships, doubt, trust, and anxiety.
Remember that an overriding preoccupation with clarity is the bane of small minds.
Leave room for irreverence, for poking fun at religion. Reverence and irreverence are close cousins.
Be rebellious when necessary; be true to yourself. Don't think you have to be like everybody else or that everybody needs to like you..
Don't be afraid of solitude. Religion is what we do with our solitariness.
It's OK to stay in your room sometimes even when people wish you'd get out more.
Love the Bible for its language, but don't make a god of it and think that you have to believe it all.
Dwell in possibility, a fairer house than prose. Know that possibilities are as real as actualities, just different.
Believe in God if you can. There is, after all, something more.
It's OK to be pissed at God when God feels absent.
Keep your heart set on the thing with feathers: hope.
Don't think everything needs to be explained.
Beware of people who have to define everything.
Be at home with dashes used as pauses, breaks, changes of mind, or acts of assertion.
Make sure you leave room for wild nights.
I cannot discern which of these are indebted to Whitehead and which to Dickinson. Most of them contain elements of each. But together they form a complex of ideas that make sense to _________. I share them just in case some, maybe even all, make sense to you, too.
More traditional Christians and others may wish for a more relational and socially-engaged form of theology. Her theology seems personal and private, but not out to transform the world. She's no Joan of Arc.
But she is, after all, an introvert and a free spirit. In the house of theology there's room for her, too. Something tells me Whitehead would understand and like her. Maybe Emily, too.
- Jay McDaniel
Faith is a fine invention, but in an emergency it helps to have a microscope.
Don't give yourself away to religion, or to Christ, if it takes you away from the world.
You don't have to go to church to worship; you can go into your backyard and let the birds be your choir. Let nature be your sanctuary.
Live with a sense of wonder; be curious about everything: death, flies, shadows, relationships, tables and chairs, salvation, passion, botany, violence, surprise, love.
Know that whole of life is a series of nows and that "forever" is composed of nows.
Know that the infinite is in the finite, the universe in each grain of sand (Blake). Pay attention to the grains.
Don't think everything needs to be clear. Some of the most important things in life are vague: love, relationships, doubt, trust, and anxiety.
Remember that an overriding preoccupation with clarity is the bane of small minds.
Leave room for irreverence, for poking fun at religion. Reverence and irreverence are close cousins.
Be rebellious when necessary; be true to yourself. Don't think you have to be like everybody else or that everybody needs to like you..
Don't be afraid of solitude. Religion is what we do with our solitariness.
It's OK to stay in your room sometimes even when people wish you'd get out more.
Love the Bible for its language, but don't make a god of it and think that you have to believe it all.
Dwell in possibility, a fairer house than prose. Know that possibilities are as real as actualities, just different.
Believe in God if you can. There is, after all, something more.
It's OK to be pissed at God when God feels absent.
Keep your heart set on the thing with feathers: hope.
Don't think everything needs to be explained.
Beware of people who have to define everything.
Be at home with dashes used as pauses, breaks, changes of mind, or acts of assertion.
Make sure you leave room for wild nights.
I cannot discern which of these are indebted to Whitehead and which to Dickinson. Most of them contain elements of each. But together they form a complex of ideas that make sense to _________. I share them just in case some, maybe even all, make sense to you, too.
More traditional Christians and others may wish for a more relational and socially-engaged form of theology. Her theology seems personal and private, but not out to transform the world. She's no Joan of Arc.
But she is, after all, an introvert and a free spirit. In the house of theology there's room for her, too. Something tells me Whitehead would understand and like her. Maybe Emily, too.
- Jay McDaniel
I Dwell in Possibility (Poem 466)
by Emily Dickinson
I dwell in Possibility –
A fairer House than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –
Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of eye –
And for an everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky –
Of Visitors – the fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise –
A fairer House than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –
Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of eye –
And for an everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky –
Of Visitors – the fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise –
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
by Emily Dickinson
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
Faith is a fine invention (Poem 202)
by Emily Dickinson
‘Faith’ is a fine invention
For Gentlemen who see!
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency!
For Gentlemen who see!
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency!
Some keep Sabbath going to Church (Poem 236)
by Emily Dickinson
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church
I keep it, staying at Home
With a Bobolink for a Chorister
And an Orchard, for a Dome.
Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice
I, just wear my Wings
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton – sings.
God preaches, a noted Clergyman
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven,
at last I’m going, all along.
I keep it, staying at Home
With a Bobolink for a Chorister
And an Orchard, for a Dome.
Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice
I, just wear my Wings
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton – sings.
God preaches, a noted Clergyman
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven,
at last I’m going, all along.
The Bible is an antique Volume (Poem 1545)
by Emily Dickinson
The Bible is an antique Volume
Written by faded men
At the suggestion of Holy Spectres
Subjects—Bethlehem
Eden—the ancient Homestead
Satan—the Brigadier
Judas—the Great Defaulter
David—the Troubadour
Sin—a distinguished Precipice
Others must resist
Boys that "believe" are very lonesome
Other Boys are "lost"
Had but the Tale a warbling Teller
All the Boys would come
Orpheus' Sermon captivated
It did not condemn
Written by faded men
At the suggestion of Holy Spectres
Subjects—Bethlehem
Eden—the ancient Homestead
Satan—the Brigadier
Judas—the Great Defaulter
David—the Troubadour
Sin—a distinguished Precipice
Others must resist
Boys that "believe" are very lonesome
Other Boys are "lost"
Had but the Tale a warbling Teller
All the Boys would come
Orpheus' Sermon captivated
It did not condemn
Of Course - I prayed (Poem 581)
by Emily Dickinson
Of Course – I prayed –
And did God care?
He cared as much as on the Air
A Bird – had stamped her foot –
And cried “Give Me” –
And did God care?
He cared as much as on the Air
A Bird – had stamped her foot –
And cried “Give Me” –
Forever – is composed of Nows – (Poem 690)
by Emily Dickinson
Forever – is composed of Nows –
‘Tis not a different time –
Except for Infiniteness –
And Latitude of Home –
From this – experienced Here –
Remove the Dates – to These –
Let Months dissolve in further Months –
And Years – exhale in Years –
Without Debate – or Pause –
Or Celebrated Days –
No different Our Years would be
From Anno Dominies –